‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable locals face a battle to find food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters decline and momentary shelters shut.

Nearly 800 individuals have in NSW evacuation centres however their status as pop-up homes for some will stop to exist after the impact of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred passes.

Kim Kennedy, Vinnies’ regional real estate and homelessness supervisor for northeast NSW, has been on the cutting edge supporting people sleeping rough in flooded zones.

Her job was made harder on Monday due to harm to Fred’s Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with continuous rainfall swamping the space.

On any given day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in need however showers and laundry centers are out of commission till the flood damage is repaired.

“It has actually been a horrendous time for the homeless community,” Ms Kennedy informed AAP.

“It has actually been really tough attempting to get them any type of shelter.”

She stated the homeless were searching for any dry places they might sleep across a northern NSW region currently dealing with an alarming scarcity of affordable real estate.

“We have actually been helping out a whole family oversleeping their cars and truck,” Ms Kennedy said.

“Seeing them in this horrendous weather is truly horrible.”

The Byron Shire city government area, south of Tweed Heads, had the most rough sleepers of any council area in the state, according to a 2024 federal government street count.

“We definitely do have a real estate issue in the Northern Rivers and we need options,” Ms Kennedy stated.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres established in schools, universities, health clubs and clubs could not function as a long-lasting repair to established housing issues in the area.

“I am totally aware of the significant obstacles for housing in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not long-term solutions … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allocation,” he said.

The centres would close in all areas once local emergency orders were lifted, Mr Minns added.

“So I desire to apologise in advance but we need to draw an extremely clear and understood line.”

More than 10,000 individuals were under emergency warnings in NSW on Monday morning, while 1800 individuals were separated by floodwaters.

About 10,000 homes and services were still not linked to power as heavy rain continued to fall in many areas.

Major flood warnings were still in location for parts of the Clarence and Richmond rivers, while clean-up operations were under way somewhere else.

In Pottsville, in between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was among the particles that washed up after substantial swells battered the shoreline for days.

Residents from 17 NSW city government areas who had lost income due to the storm would be qualified for federal catastrophe relief funds for up to 13 weeks, it was revealed on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the financial support would be backed by mental health services for affected locations.

“We have actually got your back, that’s my message to communities here,” he said from Lismore on Monday.

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